It’s so simple to decide to do something.
It’s a yes.
It’s a time that signals the start of something.
It’s a want for different. It’s a need for change.
But that first decision screams YES, and it is the beacon for all the others in its path that are yet to come.
I often start my coaching, both one-on-one and with teams, with this one question: WHY?
Why do you play the sport, run the race, do the work, fight the fight, practice and train as hard as you do? What is the fire in your belly that gets you up early and keeps you up late? What makes your heart skip a beat when you think of your passion to be a part of it? Quite simply, what is your why?
If you don’t have that defined, you will find yourself at the crossroads. When it gets hard, and it WILL get hard, you won’t have a way of overcoming it. And in those moments you face a decision. You feel the need to get tougher just to battle the hard, or you bury your head in your shell, worrying about how you will even just take your next breath. You question and doubt and wonder. And then when you are done, you move on. You take the next step, or do the next pushup or run the next race. You carry on. Not because you feel you want to, but because you have to. Because you knew why.
There was a reason you started in the first place. And that reason is either what drives you or what nags at you. Have you ever seen someone who constantly sets goals they never achieve? And then they wonder why? They have a reason, not a why. A reason has no real attachment, no emotion that digs at your gut. It just is.
When the world says no…Try one more time anyway. Sometimes the biggest miracles happen after most others would have give up. ~Jen Croneberger
Lately, I have become a runner. I run for many reasons. To feel better, to lose weight, to get healthier, to compete against myself, race, for fun. I joined Team CMMD of over 1,000 people who run to raise money for cancer and for local families battling cancer. That team is what drives me. My why is about the people I run for. Not just the ones who are battling cancer, but also my very own teammates whom I have grown to love. It’s the fire in my belly and the drive to show up, even when I am tired or I don’t want to. I just show up. And my why is what drives me. I run for the people more so than the reasons. I am attached to the emotion of team, cancer and a purpose bigger than myself. The reasons will happen as a by-product of the why. The days I am tired and don’t feel like it, I can always get healthier tomorrow… but running for those who can’t or being accountable to my teammates who are doing this together is why I show up. As of this Saturday, I have put in 177 miles so far this year. Not always because I have reasons to do so, but because I have a fire in my belly for my why.
[Tweet “When it gets hard, and it will… remember why. It will always guide you to success.”]
